Talk (Work in Progress): Borut Trpin (MCMP)

Title:

Belief as Testimony to Oneself

Abstract:

We believe more or less strongly in the propositions we entertain. This phenomenon is captured by the notion of partial belief and the associated Bayesian theory. But is there also a meaningful notion of full belief? And if so, what role does it play in cognition? In this paper, we argue that full belief is not a propositional attitude. Instead, we propose that a full belief affirms a partial belief, or, in a slogan, ''a full belief is a testimony to oneself''. To make this proposal more precise and to explore its consequences, we construct a Bayesian model. We show how our proposal can deal with several problems faced by traditional theories of full belief, and then defend it against some objections. The talk is based on joint work with Stephan Hartmann.